Archive for February, 2009
A night at the Alibi Room
Thursday, February 26th, 2009 | Beer, Pubs | 2 Comments
Last night I went to the Alibi Room with my friends Peter, Dave and Gavin. Erik was going to come, but he was busy roasting a chicken, it happens. Our visit came about because of comment’s Rick Green left on Dave’s guest post, wondering what Dave might think of the Alibi Room in comparison to Original Joe’s. It didn’t take much convincing to get a group out for beers after work, considering we are always up for some good merry making. That aside, the Alibi Room has a fantastic beer selection to tempt any enthusiast.
The Alibi Room has 19 taps of fresh, relatively local draught beer, plus many more bottled options, as well as the odd cask, all of which are in constant rotation. For a beer drinker, this is heaven. Not only do they have the best beer selection in BC, but there is always something new. In fact, the owner makes special trips to the island to pick up casks and kegs himself
I had a very hard time choosing what four beers to put into my “frat bat”. I ended up going for the Swans Cask ESB, Longwood “Batch 1000″ Doppelbock, Dix Texan Brown, and Steamworks Roggenweizen. I also sampled the Swans Extra IPA and ordered a pint of the Swans Cask ESB later on. I think we all enjoyed the Cask ale the most, but I was also particularly impressed with the Longwood Doppelbock. I didn’t care too much for the Roggenweizen (too spicy) or the Texan Brown, but neither are preferred styles of mine.
Peter and Dave with empty plates/glasses at the Alibi Room
We also had some very tasty, reasonably priced food. After splitting some chicken wings and a cheese plate, we ordered two each of their roast beef sandwich special and their bison dip, which were both quite good. I planned to take some pictures of our glorious spread of beer and food, but I completely forgot until we’d pretty much finished everything to the last crumb/drop. Still, I have a picture of our empty plates and glasses, testament to the good times we shared with great food and beer at the Alibi Room. I hope we end up making this a regular after work occurrence!
Cheers.
Chris
Brewday 2009
Monday, February 23rd, 2009 | Beer, Homebrew | 3 Comments
Last Saturday was the first of hopefully many brew-days this year. I have been an active homebrewer for almost a year and a half now. My love for homebrewing started while walking down a Home Hardware store in the small town of Qualicum on Vancouver Island. This particular store sold a home brewing kit – the thought of brewing my own beer was intriguing and had never previously crossed my mind. Although I did not buy the kit that day, I made it my personal mission to become a homebrew master – I’m not there yet, but one day.
Unfortunately, all of my friends, including Chris, who clearly cares more about Mats Sundin than me, were busy, so had to go it alone. All in all it was a relaxing Saturday spent brewing what will hopefully become a delicious IPA.
- Wyeast 1968 London ESB Yeast – it should leave a pronounced malt flavour in the beer to balance out the hops bitterness
- The Mash Tun – 2 Row Pale Malt, Munich Malt, Caramel 80, Biscuit, Carapils. This should be maltier than most American IPA’s
Vorlaufing - Draining sweet wort from the mash and then recirculating back into the mash tun again and again until the wort runs clear. Any grain left in the wort could result in an astringent taste and mouthfeel.
Wort slowly filling the brew kettle
Sweet wort in the brew kettle approaching a boil. Once it reaches a boil the foam layer on top explodes everywhere - if the brewer is not standing by.
The Brewkettle
Adding hops to the wort. Centennial 60 min, Cascade 30 min, Amarillo 5 min
Immersion wort chiller cooling the wort. The hot wort needs to go from boiling to room temperature as quickly as possible. If not a nasty infection could spoil the brew.
Cooled wort beginning its week long ferment.
Erik
Stout Burgers
Sunday, February 22nd, 2009 | Food and Recipes | 4 Comments
This past Saturday I had some friends over to watch Mats’ victorious return to Toronto. To celebrate the Canucks glorious victory, I made Stout Burgers (thanks for the recipe Dave). Sadly, I forgot to take pictures, but I can tell you they were delicious. We also found the burgers to be giant. The recipe calls for only six burgers, weighing in at just under a half pound each. Needless to say, they were a mouth full. I can’t honestly say I noticed the Stout in the burgers, but the beer did help keep the patties nice and moist. They were also very spicy, which I enjoyed, but others may not. In any case, if you like burgers, I recommend giving the recipe a try.
Real Beer
Saturday, February 21st, 2009 | Beer | 8 Comments
As some may have already noticed, my presence on lovegoodbeer.com over the past few weeks has slowly faded. I feel I owe a bit of an apology for this neglect – could this negligence on my behalf be considered alcohol abuse?
Part of this is due to a new job – they tend to take up a good portion of time. I have a hard time finding inspiration to blog after spending all day sitting in front of a computer editing and drafting business communication pieces. This is not a valid excuse – most of us either have a job or would like to have one. Once I have settled in a little more at my current work I will post on a regular basis once again.
The other reason for my diminishing online presence, and perhaps the largest reason, is a genuine fear of slowly turning into a beer snob. I have a tremendous respect and passion for beer and therefore want to always portray beer as simply just beer. Beer is an incredibly complex drink with a long history which is intertwined with the development of modern human civilization – but to most it is just beer and I see no problem with that. This blog was started because Chris and I both love beer. We wanted an opportunity to learn more about beer and share our passion for this tasty beverage with others. Over the course of the past few months I have learned that beer is an inclusive drink, and it should always be that way.
Take for example my recent experience in California’s Napa Valley – I also love good wine. My wife and I purchased a five dollar discount-shelf wine country guide book in San Francisco this past summer and took to the wind in our rented Toyota Echo. The guide book turned out to be less useful than we had hoped, I got what I payed for I suppose. With so many wineries to see in only two days we needed to develop a strategy. We decide to visit wineries with the best sounding names – this seemed logical to me. After visiting our first winery, we were told by the snooty wine tasting woman that perhaps we should try a different road to travel from vineyard to vineyard on because the area we were in was “too exclusive”. And this was after we paid $20 for a sip of over-hyped wine. This put a damper on the afternoon – no one wants to be excluded. Wine should never be an exclusive drink, but as demonstrated above, often times it is.
Wine and beer share similar histories; many ancient civilizations consumed large amounts of either beer or wine and they all recognized the ability of these two beverages to nourish and bring pleasure. Wine and beer helped turn survival from a daily struggle into a joyful celebration. Wine became a drink for the elite when the ancient Greeks mastered viticulture and beer was a left as a drink for the barbarians to the north. Only the wealthy could afford good wine and suddenly wine became an exclusive pleasure reserved only for middle to upper class citizens. To this day Northern Europe produces beer and Southern Europe produces wine. Wine is still the drink of choice for society’s elite and beer is still for the working class citizens. I am generalizing a lot here – I am sure many wealthy people love beer and vice versa.
The attitude that “real ale” must be preservative free, naturally carbonated, and poured from a sediment heavy bottle or cask does not agree with me. I mean no disrespect to CAMRA, I am a proud card carrying member, but this concept of real beer seems inaccurate. This concept of real ale implies that most of my friends do not enjoy real beer and that when I go out for lunch with my new work colleagues I am not drinking real beer. Real ale may be brewed following traditional recipes and techniques, but I believe these recipes are somewhat off the mark. This new concept of real ale seems somewhat exclusive – the attitude that inclusive macro-brewed beer is not real, is just plain wrong.
If beer tastes good, provides nourishment and brings joy to the drinker, than it is real beer. Everything from premium craft beer to light bohemian macro-brewed lager is real beer.
Erik
Beer Shopping and a Mill Street Update
Friday, February 20th, 2009 | Beer, Breweries | No Comments
One of my good friends Peter, of guest post fame, just took a job near Firefly. In preparation for Sundin’s return to the centre of the universe, we did a little beer shopping on our lunch breaks. It is always fun to introduce a friend to the glorious bounty held within Vancouver’s specialty beer stores. Both of us came home with some tasty treats:
Peter:
Chris:
- Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA
- Mill Street Organic Lager
- Westmalle Trappist Tripel
- Green Flash Barley Wine (should I cellar this one?)
- Samuel Smiths Oatmeal Stout
- Thomas Hardy’s Ale 2006 (one for The Cellar)
The haul this week, Leafs suck, woooo!
I recently noticed a full page Mill Street ad on the back cover of Taps and was reminded of my Mill Street quest. I’ve already sampled four of their five bottled brews, notably the Tankhouse and Stock Ales, and more recently their Coffee Porter and Belgian Wit. I enjoyed the Coffee Porter, a Canadian Brewing Awards gold medal winner. I was not as fond of the Wit, which I found to be too flavored by its adjuncts. In any case, I figured I should give the Organic Lager a try.
What struck me about the Mill Street ad was their emphasis on recent awards, which include Canadian brewery of the year. I have the utmost respect for the CBA organizers and judges, who impartially conduct blind tastings. However, I’m wondering if the beer provided by the brewers for the judges is the same bottled beer waiting for consumers on liquor store shelves? I am not accusing any brewery of foul play (I hate the Leafs, I like Mill Street), but I’m sure the breweries see the marketing value in winning these awards. I may be out of line, but I consider this food for thought.
Cheers,
Chris
Eastern Explorations Continued: Dieu Du Ciel
Monday, February 16th, 2009 | Beer, Breweries, Pubs | 1 Comment
One of my coworkers moved back to Quebec this past summer, but still works with us remotely. Our interactions are now mostly limited to instant messenger conversations, but lately we’ve been able to bond over our mutual interest in beer. Jerome is lucky to live near Montreal, the Canadian hotbed of interesting craft beer. One of the breweries we both enjoy is Dieu Du Ciel, who brew very interesting beers.
Jerome tempting me with imagery
One of the guys at Brewery Creek recommended them to me, so I bought one of each of the six brews available. Dieu Du Ciel (God of the sky) also gives their beers sweet names, not that this has anything to do with the beer itself, but it’s a nice touch. The six I tried are:
- Corne du diable (Horn of the devil): 6.5% American IPA that I enjoyed very much, pleasantly hoppy for an East coast beer.
- Dernière Volonté (Last will): 6.5% Belgian abbey style blonde, which I also enjoyed.
- Fumisterie (Smoke screen): 5.5% hemp ale, enjoyable, but smoked flavors aren’t my bag.
- Péché Mortel (Mortal Sin): 9.5% Imperial coffee stout, intense roasted coffee flavors, very interesting, but a bit too heavy for my liking.
- Rosée d’hibiscus (Pinkish Hibiscus): 5% hibiscus flower wit, quite possibly the girliest beer I’ve ever come across (besides Bud Light), but I really enjoyed this wit and look forward to sipping a few more this summer.
- Route des épices (Spice route): 5% peppercorn rye beer, tasted like a (good) pale ale with added pepper, too much pepper in my opinion.
You’ll notice that Dieu Du Ciel doesn’t brew your average beers. Even though I found them hit or miss, I love what Dieu Du Ciel is doing with their beer. They are going all out, you love it or you hate it, but the ones you love are masterpieces. The beer menu at the brewpub can only be considered epic, check it out. I’m hoping to make a trip out to Montreal in the not too distant future. Care to join me for a beer Jerome?
Cheers,
Chris
Northwest Beer Events
Saturday, February 14th, 2009 | Beer | No Comments
The good people at Northwest Brewing News kindly send out a regular e-newsletter, titled Hop Tips, informing beer lovers about what is going on in the world of Northwest brewing. Northwest Brewing News is one of my favorite sources for local beer information. Yes, I consider Washington, Oregon, Northern California and even Alaska to be local.
There are a couple of great sounding events going on in Bellingham WA, just south of the Metro Vancouver, taking place in the next few weeks. I just want to point a couple of them out:
- Tuesday February 17th – Chuckanut Brewery and Kitchen in Bellingham will be hosting a Kolsch night. Kolsch is a relatively hard to find German ale, and with pints coming in a $1.50 it is hard to pass up this opportunity. From my understanding this event will be occurring every Tuesday until otherwise posted.
- February 23rd 6:00PM – Chuckanut Brewery and Kitchen is putting on a winter beer dinner. Tickets will need to be purchased in advance online.
- February 24th – Boundary Bay Brewing Company is presenting a Fat Tuesday extravaganza. Dixieland Jazz and a special menu should make for a great evening. I believe Dix Brewing in Vancouver is also hosting a Mardi Gras party on February 19th. Why not enjoy both.
These are just a few of the great beer events taking place in the Pacific Northwest. Although Vancouver is nowhere near Washington as far as craft brewing goes, Vancouverites are still quite fortunate to live in such a great beer region, so please take advantage of what is right in our own backyard.
Erik
A good bit of spam from PubQuest
Friday, February 13th, 2009 | Breweries, Pubs | No Comments
I get SPAM emails and cold calls at work all the time and I really hate it. No, I don’t want toner or for you to be our company accountant; thank you for interrupting my day unnecessarily. As such, I was annoyed when the first piece of spam targeted at this blog made it through my filter. I wasn’t annoyed for long though, turns out I was actually interested in the unsolicited email I received. In response to Erik’s trip to Seattle, Julie Wartell let us know about PubQuest.com, a map based mashup of brewpubs and craft brewers in North America.
PubQuest’s locater is pretty cool. You zero in on an area of interest and are then shown where tasty beer can be found within the bounds of the map. I tested it out for Vancouver, Victoria, the Fraser Valley, and the Okanagan. I found the listings to be very complete, which earned them my trust. I’ve made my own Google Beer Maps in the past, so I would for sure use PubQuest as a starting point for any future beer based road trips. If you are looking for a brewpub or craft brewer in your neighbourhood or near a travel destination, check out PubQuest.com.
Cheers,
Chris
Joe to the rescue
Thursday, February 12th, 2009 | Pubs | 5 Comments
A third guest post to LoveGoodBeer.com! This time we welcome David Reith to the fold. He is a good friend, a good writer, and an accomplished beer drinker. I hope you enjoy his post about a favorite local pub of ours. ~ Chris
As I read Erik’s post about local pubs, I couldn’t help but twinge when he insinuated that the beer and food at your local pub don’t matter as long as you’re amongst friends. It’s not that I don’t like a good time out with my buddies because I do. However, I think that a good time out with friends is often ruined by the experience of the venue. This includes most prominently the food and beverage, but also extends to the house staff and general atmosphere of the joint. Too often we suffer through poor food, boring beers, inept staff and other nuisances that can ruin a night before we even realize it.
The average local pub in the Fraser Valley usually falls woefully short when it comes to a selection of truly great beers. Even without getting into the selective world of cask ales and seasonal releases, there are more than enough craft and micro-breweries for pubs to choose from. Unfortunately, too many cater to the tasteless beer drinker or are forced to carry generic beer brands because of their chosen distributors. Erik is right in wanting more adventurous choices, and he is not alone.
To add to the shortcomings in brew selection, most local taverns forget that beer often leads to food and some thought should be given to the latter. As tasty as hot wings and nachos are (and believe me, I do love me some hot wings), they shouldn’t be the be all and end all of the pub menu. Along with thinking outside the box with their beer, pubs need to get adventurous with their menus.
With all this in mind, I want to commend a local watering hole on its achievements. Original Joe’s Restaurant and Bar is a Western Canadian chain of pubs from Saskatchewan to BC. Much like Tom Cruise in Cocktail, they sought to franchise the look and feel of the friendly neighbourhood tavern and I think they have succeeded. Admittedly, I have only visited one of their two BC locations (Coquitlam), but I have been a few times now and always enjoyed myself. When it comes to beer, I have not seen a better selection of craft brews outside of operating brew pubs. Their tap selection includes:
- Original Joe’s Red Ale, Honey Brown Ale, and Blonde Lager
- Okanagan Springs Brewing 1516 Bavarian Lager, Black Lager, and Pale Ale
- Russell Cream Ale
- Dead Frog Nut Brown Ale and Pale Ale
- Big Rock Traditional Ale, and Grasshopper Ale
- Whistler Black Tusk Ale, Import Lager, and Weissbeer
Their house brand, Original Joe’s, is brewed by Big Rock Brewing Co. in Alberta, but they venture outside of its boundaries to include some other interesting offerings, including local contributions from Dead Frog Brewing and Russell Brewing. To add to my enjoyment, they offer a different selection from the taps each day for just $4.75 for a big boy pint.
In addition to a great selection of beers, they also offer a diverse and exciting menu that truly entices. Pulled pork sandwiches, European sausages and handmade hamburgers all make appearances, as do some creative sides such as honey slaw, fries and homemade gravy, and mango pasta salad. And yes, for the stubborn or the un-brave they do have excellent wings and nachos, but my guess is that they kick the pants off the local frozen-to-fried fare served up at most local pubs. Plus, they have lunch and dinner specials that are actually that: special dishes at special prices (Note to restaurants: picking an item off your menu and printing it on a new page at the same price is NOT a special).
But the best part about Original Joe’s may not be the beers and it may not be the food. It’s got that X-factor. With portraits of local landmarks strewn about its red-brick walls and easily seen, but not overbearing TVs, O.J.’s provides just the right atmosphere for a good time with friends. The staff is friendly and recognizes you on repeat visits. So keep the faith beer-lovers! Great pubs are out there and they are waiting for you to find them. So grab some friends and venture out there. Cheers.
Dave Reith
Russellfest
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 | Beer | 2 Comments
Thanks in large part to Russell Brewing, I had some friends over for Russellfest this past weekend. We sampled Russell’s Cream, Pale, and Honey Blonde Ales, as well as their Extra Special Lager. My friends, many of whom were affected by the original incident, got to taste what Russell’s beer should taste like. We were also treated to several of my wife’s homemade pizza’s, which were delicious and very quickly devoured. It was a great party and everyone had a great time, as far as I know at least.
Considering that Russell’s beer was the focal point, we did discuss it in depth. One piece of feedback we have for Russell is that we wish they were more adventurous with their beer. When tasting, we noticed that not much sets each beer part from the other. I do enjoy their beer, the Cream Ale the most, but I would not call it spectacular or even great. It seems to me that they are targeting the average beer drinker who prefers less flavorful, simpler beer. As a craft brewery, I would expect some greater differentiation throughout the lineup and a few interesting seasonal releases. On our tour, we noticed that they only used two kinds of hops (I forget which two, but Erik will know). We thought, why not be bolder? Keep the Cream and Honey the same, but why not make the Pale Ale something to remember? This is just our opinion.
Thanks again to Russell for making amends and taking us on a tour. We really thought they were very nice, very passionate people who care a lot about their beer. I hope they continue to thrive and I hope they release the odd something special every now and then.
Some pictures from the party:
The cooler full of mostly Russell Beer
Russellfest in all its glory
Peter in his Russell Shirt
Me doing Blue Steal
Cheers,
Chris